Tray for utensils



Sept- 2-4, 1 M. P. JUNKIN 7 2,807,361

TRAY FOR UTENSILS Filed NOV. 29, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. MALCOLM P. JUNKIN ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 24, 1957 2,807,361 TRAY FOR UTENSILS Malcolm P. Junkin, Drexel Hill, Pa., assignor to National Metal Edge Box Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 29, 1955, Serial No. 549,791

1 Claim. (Cl. 206-75) This invention relates to a tray and, more particularly, relates to a tray suitable for holding utensils.

The storage, display and shipment of utensils, such as kitchen utensils or table utensils, has always been a difficult problem to solve in a secure and economic manner. in accordance with this invention, utensils such as, for example, knives, forks, spoons can be securely held in a tray which is simple and economical to manufacture. The utensils in the tray can either be displayed, stored or shipped.

It is, therefore, the broad object of this invention to provide an economical tray for holding utensils.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a tray for utensils in which the utensils are at once held securely and yet can be readily inserted and removed.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent on reading the following description in conjunction with the drawings in which:

Figure l is an exploded view showing the individual parts of a tray in accordance with this invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the tray of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical section of the tray of Figure 2 taken on the planes indicated by the line 3-3 in Figure 2.

As shown in the drawings, a tray 2 in accordance with this invention has a body 4. Body 4 has a bottom 6 and side walls 8, 10, 12 and 14. As will be seen, for example, in Figure 3, the side walls are of double thickness having been folded inwardly along their upper edges.

- Adjacent walls are secured together at the corners by metal stays 16. Extending inwardly from the lower inner edge of walls and 14 are tabs 18 and 20 respectively.

Tray 2 has a base member 24 which has a bottom wall 26, a plurality of upstanding side flanges 28 and a plurality of upstanding end flanges 30. The upturned flanges 28 are adapted to be engaged by the inwardly folded portions of walls 10 and 14 respectively. The upturned flange members 30 are adapted to be engaged by the inwardly turned portions of walls 8 and 12. The bottom wall. 26 of base member 24 overlies tabs 18 and 20 respectively.

Base member 24 has a ridge 34 which forms a dihedral angle and which is provided with transverse spaced openings 36 of a width to accommodate the relatively narrow portion of a utensil. Ridge 34 is also provided with a plurality of slots 38 which are opposite slots 40 respectively. Slots 38 and 40 lie at an angle to the apex of the dihedral angle and are intersected by common lines perpendicular to a plane bisecting the dihedral angle formed by the ridge 34. At the other end of ridge 34 and corresponding to slots 38 and 40 are a plurality of slots 42 which are respectively opposite slots 44. Slots 42, 44 are disposed in the same manner as described for slots 38 and 40 with the exception that their direction of slope is reversed.

A slide 48, which forms a dihedral angle substantially equal to the dihedral angle formed by ridge 34, is fitted under ridge 34. Slide 48 is adapted to be moved longitudinally by having one of its ends 50 or 52 pushed where it projects into notched opening 51 or 53 respectively of ridge 34. The lower portion of ends 50 and 52 are cut away sufliciently so that the slide will not, in any position, present a surface opposite openings 38, 40, 42 or 44.

Slide 48 is provided with a plurality of openings 54 which are adapted to be in partial registry with the openings 36 in ridge 34, the openings 54 being twice as wide as openings 36. Each opening 54 has, adjacent its upper end, a projection 56 which is adapted to close the upper portion of openings 36 when the slide 48 is in the closed position.

In assembling the tray, it will be apparent that the slide 48 is first inserted under ridge 34. The base member 24 and slide 48 are then placed on the bottom wall of the body with the bottom wall 26 of the base member overlying tabs 18 and 20 and the upstanding flange members 28 lying within the inturned portion of walls 10 and 14 respectively. The inturned portion of walls 8 and 12 are folded to engage the upstanding flanges 30. The assembly operation is completed by securing the adjacent walls of the body together by placing the stays 16 at the corners.

With respect to operation, table utensils, for example, spoons 60 and forks 62 are placed in separate openings 36 in ridge 34 and at the same time passing into openings 54 in slide 48. After the desired number of forks and spoons have been thus inserted, the slide 48 will be moved to the right, as viewed in Figure 2, by pushing end 50. This operation brings projections 56 to the right so as to block the upper portion of openings 36 and prevent the withdrawal of the spoons or forks.

Knives 64 are secured by inserting the blades of the knives in, for example, opposed slots 38 and 40 which provide a suflicient binding action to hold each knife securely.

It is not desired to be limited except as set forth in the following claim.

What is claimed is:

A tray for utensils comprising: a base member mounted in a tray and having a ridge provided with transverse spaced openings for the reception of utensils, a slide mounted under said ridge and adapted to slide on the tray, said slide having openings adapted to be in partial registry with the openings in the ridge respectively and a projection adjacent the upper portion of each of the openings in the slide and adapted to close off the upper portion of the openings in the ridge on the longitudinal movement of the slide, said ridge forming a dihedral angle and having opposed slots adjacent its end and below the apex of the ridge for the reception of knives, said opposed slots being at an acute angle to the apex of the ridge and being intersected by common lines perpendicular to a plane bisecting the formed dihedral angle, the apex of said ridge having notched openings at its ends, the ends of said slide being adapted to project alternately into said notched openings and also having the lower portions of its ends cut away so as to pass above the opposed slots in the ridge.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 427,631 Springfels May 13, 1890 989,571 Dahl Apr. 18, 1911 1,291,430 Davenport Jan. 14, 1919 2,511,542 Rau June 13, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 287,272 Great Britain Mar. 22, 1928 101,434 Switzerland Apr. 22, 1941 

